


Pro Tempore

by Watchinginthedark



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pacific Rim: Uprising - Freeform, Post Pacific Rim, Pre Pacific Rim Uprising, Sexual Situations, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 05:26:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14098203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watchinginthedark/pseuds/Watchinginthedark
Summary: (SPOILERS: Sorta. While it technically does contain spoilers for Pacific Rim: Uprising, so far they're things that won't seem important until you see the movie. This will change as I get further.)The events that connect the dots between the end of the apocalypse to the rise of the new one for Newt and Hermann.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Between the movie and the interviews with Burn and Charlie, I got the itch to fill in the gaps of just how this could happen to our science boys, so here it is.

The weeks following the cancelling of the apocalypse were some of the best days of Hermann Gottleib’s life. They’d saved the world and while the losses were hard, they could finally let out the breathe they’d been holding for the last decade. And Hermann had exhaled right into Newton Geiszler’s waiting arms.

They’d gotten drunk enough for all their fallen comrades and then some in the celebration that followed. At some point Hermann needed to get away from the noise and Newt had bumbled after, the two attached at the hip since they’d drifted. Hermann grasped the railing as they exited out onto some scaffolding along the side of the shatterdome, taking in the celebrating city below as he sucked in a lungful of freezing air.

Newt’s warm hand found the center of his spine before sliding down to the small of his back. It’d felt so nice against the ache of his body, strained beyond the limit from the last few days. The last few years.

“We did it,” Newt murmured, tugging Hermann so he could put some of his weight against the Newt’s shoulder and get it off his leg. “They’re all alive because of us.”

“So it seems. So, how does it feel to be a rockstar, hmm?” Hermann smirked, long fingers sliding against the back of Newt’s neck. He’d never been one for open displays of affection, but since their drift, he couldn’t help himself. They’d been in each others’ minds. He knew how his fellow scientist felt about him. He now could admit how he felt about Newt.

“Pretty damn amazing,” Newton beamed, the lights below reflecting in his glasses. His expression grew soft and thoughtful. “Hey Herm, I.. I think I wanna say something to you, but I’m not sure how to say it. Besides, I think.. you already get the idea anyway.”

“Hm. That does seem probable,” Hermann nodded before shifting his weight and tugging Newt to him, cupping his face. Newt's stubble was rough and sandpapery against his fingers and even more so against his upper lip as he leaned in to kiss the man. His lips were dry and a little cracked. If Hermann had to guess, it was between the cold weather and the fact that Newt couldn’t keep track of anything smaller than an apple for longer than an hour, much less a tube of chapstick.

But such trivial thoughts were quickly chased away as Newt hungrily returned his advances, pushing into his kiss like a man starved. It was wet and awkward and their teeth clicked together, but it was more than Hermann ever thought he’d get to have.

“Man, you.. you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that. You and your long fucking legs and amazing cheekbones and, god, your brilliant brain.” Newt let out a short chuckle, his breath condensing in the cold air between them before burying his face against Hermann’s chest. “I figured if I’d ever tried through, you’d beat me over the head with your cane. That and sometimes I just _hated_ you, y’know? I mean, no offense, but sometimes I just wanted to shove your goddamn chalk down your throat for being such an ass.”

“You have no idea how close I got to strangling you with your damnedable kaiju entrails on a regular basis.” Hermann snorted, nuzzling Newt’s wild and greasy hair. It reminded them that neither of them had really cleaned up since they got back, other than hastily donning some fresh clothes they’d been given after having gotten the all clear from medical. “In some ways, I suppose it was easier than just admitting how I felt.”

“I feel that. Man, for the two smartest people on the planet, we sure are idiots.” Newt started laughing in ernest before peppering Hermann’s throat with kisses. The taller of the pair let out soft eager noises in response, clutching Newt all the more tightly. “Fuck Hermann, I wanna.. I dunno.. I wanna fuck you but I just don’t have the energy for it. I’m sure you’re having it even worse.”

“I unfortunately have to agree. But.. perhaps we can share a bed for the night in the meantime.” Hermann’s cheeks burned red, but despite his modest nature, the thought of being intimate with the man in his arms pleased him to no end.

“Yeah... I guess we oughta get cleaned up. I feel like I could sleep for a week. My room’s closer and it’s getting cold out here anyway. Let’s head in.”

* * *

 

From there, while things weren’t perfect, Hermann and Newt were happy. They were busy with clean-up, but at the end of the day, they would fall into a tangle of limbs into one bed or another. Often to sleep but sometimes for the sake of intimacy.

The sex was slow and careful at first. Hermann could tell Newt was scared he was going to hurt him in some way. Their first time, Newt had lowered himself onto his partner as Hermann’s fingers clung to his tattooed thighs. He’d stopped every few minutes to make sure Hermann was okay and while sweet, it did stilt the moment.

“You’re sure I’m not squishing you?” Newt bit his lip, face red and hair disheveled as he splayed his fingers along Hermann’s chest. He partner gave him a pinched look, shorting through his nose.

“Newton, I’m fine. You’ve never treated me like an invalid in all our years of working together, you don’t get to start now.” It was perhaps a little sharp, but Hermann was rushing towards climax and keen to get on with it.

“What?! Nononono, I wasn’t.. I didn’t- Ah!” Newt stumbled over his words in an attempt to apologize but was quickly cut off as Hermann thrust his hips up, pushing himself deep into Newt and drawing a moan out of the man. After that he decided just to shut up and make sure Hermann wasn’t doing all the work. They could talk about it later.

As they learned each other’s bodies and talked about boundaries, Newt figured out Hermann was much sturdier than he’d thought and if something did hurt, Hermann would tell him. He also quickly learned just how much the other man liked to bottom. And god if he didn’t love making Hermann grip the sheets and moan into his pillow.

But an invigorated sex life, while fulfilling, did nothing to stop the nightmares. Newt had them first, struggling in the sheets, running from massive beasts in his dreams as he begged for his life. Hermann had roused him and held him tightly as Newt shivered in his arms.

Not long after, Hermann dreamed of echoing voices, distorted and horrible, amplified by thousands upon thousands of connected minds. He’d fallen from the bed and jarred his leg badly, the pain enough to make him nauseous. Newton had gotten him his painkillers and ice as Hermann lay down with forearm over his eyes. As horrific as the dreams were, never had he been more grateful to have someone at his side.

“Here you go, Babe. I grabbed the ones that won't keep you up so you’ll be able to get back to sleep. I know you might not want to, but it’ll help.” Newt handed him his pills and a glass of water, waiting for Harmann to take them before wrapping the bag of ice in a towel and nestling it around Hermann’s bad knee.

“Thank you..” He was still a little bleary from the pain and being jostled awake in the middle of the night, but dutifully swallowed his medication. “Do you hear them too, Newton? Those awful voices in your dreams?”

“...Yeah, I do. Pretty often. It’s scary, but I think I’m kinda getting used to them. Maybe cuz I got hooked up to them twice instead of just once, my brain is just more used to it. I dunno. Might be time to do some scans, but I’m not sure I wanna know what linking up with the Precursors did you us, y’know? I just wanna forget about the whole thing.” Newt pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes as he sat beside the other scientist on the bed.

“Yes. But I suppose it’s important that we don’t. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, after all,” Hermann hummed, reaching out and brushing his fingers along Newt’s tattooed arm. The other man gave him an exhausted smirk.

“I knew you had a hard-on for Galileo but now you’re spouting quotes from Santayana too? God, you’re such an academic,” Newt snorted, shimmying down to snuggle against Hermann.

“Oh please, like you’re any better. If anything, you’re worse, quoting scientists _and_ song lyrics.” Hermann pinched one of Newt’s lovehandles, earning a yelp and a raspberry against his throat from the man.

“At least I have good taste in music. Don’t get me wrong, classical music is great and has to be respected as the ancestor for so much modern music, but god man, listen to some j-pop or something for once,” Newt teased as they both devolved into laughter. Sleep came to them once again, this time the voices mercifully quiet.

They never did get to those scans.

* * *

 

Soon cleanup slowed, many cities restored, while others were condemned. Too contaminated or so utterly demolished, there was nothing left. People buried their dead and started trying to figure out where the fit in in this post-kaiju world.

For Newt and Hermann, that meant finally returning to the labs. Hermann had significantly more work to do. With the world no longer able to deny the importance and use of jaegers, the PPDC was officially re-established and fully funded, Mako running the charge. The Academy reopened and there were new jaegers to build, new tech to improve and Hermann was up to his ears in it.

That wasn’t to say Newt wasn’t busy however. He had plenty to do in furthering his research into the kaiju and for once he got to do so without the impending doom of the planet looming over his shoulder.

His work had him delving into how the kaiju made their clones, studying their growth patterns and tissue structure. More often than not, he was up to his elbows in some specimen or another until Hermann dragged him to bed for the night.

But soon it came apparent that there was only so much he could do with the specimens he had. The kaiju were all dead and with no fresh resupply, his research was drying up. But never had that stopped the likes of Newt before, and once he cracked the code for cloning kaiju, he was unstoppable.

“You  _ cloned _ a kaiju heart? Isn’t that risky?” Herman scolded as he hobbled after an excited Newt. Despite his worries, he did love seeing the other man so excited.

“Herm, it’s a heart. What’s it gonna do? Beat me to dea- uh, wait that sounds bad, pump me... circulate me... damn, there’s not a fitting word to use when it comes to a heart, but you get the point, it’s not gonna do anything to me.” He looked over to see Hermann snickering. “Oh shut up, words are hard.”

“Oh yes, very, you’ve only been using them all your life.” Hermann teased gently, letting Newt lead him by the hand to the lab. He nervously pulled away however before they entered through the door. “Sorry.. You know.. Public displays of affection.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I don’t really know what you’re so worried about though Hermann, it’s almost the 2030s. No one cares. If anything, the Kaiju really put into perspective just how silly it is to judge someone for their sexual orientation. I’ve been openly queer as hell since I knew what it meant to be pan, never got shit for it.” Newt leaned against the door and crossed his arms, having gotten sidetracked from his original thought train.

“Mh. I’m.. I’m well aware. Look, I’ll try, but it’ll take some getting used to. It’s more than just being gay. It’s just the principle of the matter. I feel affection should be private and not for any shame of it, but simply because it’s ours.”

“That’s... actually kinda sweet. I’m gonna have a hard time restraining myself from smoochin’ on you all the time, though.”

“Well. I will... permit it  _ occasionally _ . As long as it doesn’t get out of hand,” Hermann harrumphed, the tips of his ears turning pink.

“Good.” Newt learned in and stole a kiss from Hermann’s blushing face before ushering him inside the lab before he could cause a fuss. “Now, I want you to meet Gertie.”

“Gertie- You  _ named _ it?” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moving forward isn't always a positive experience. Sometimes it's just that. Forward.

Their little routine sadly didn’t last as long as they would have liked. Soon Hermann was getting summoned to different cities on a regular basis to oversee jaeger construction and while he always came back, worn out and tired but happy to see Newt, it was wearing on them. Newt’s cloning project wasn’t exactly booming either. No one really had use for toxic monster parts now that they weren’t fighting them other than the black market and Newt had decided he’d dealt enough with them after getting a knife up his nose.

That, and it was totally illegal. That too.

It wasn’t long until Newt got a rather unfortunate letter from the PPDC. Mako was probably so busy these days, she probably didn’t know about it, because Newt doubted she’d allow it if it had crossed her desk.

He hadn’t felt like showing it to Hermann right away, not wanting to ruin their time together before Hermann was shipped off to his next destination. And then the next time after that. And the next. It gnawed at him though, the letter burning a hole through the bottom of his drawer where he’d stuffed it. Eventually, he told him.

“They’ve cut my funding.” Newt was staring listlessly into one of the tanks he’d had set up around the lab, this one containing a massive kaiju eyeball he’d named Edgar. He’d made a few other organs as well. A spleen. Lungs. His crowning jewel was another hindbrain.

It was his and Hermann’s last day before the latter was off to Beijing. Newt clenched his fist, teeth grit. He’d kept it in longer than he should have and now it was boiling over. “After all I did to save the world, they’ve still decided I’m fucking useless. No point in having a kaiju expert when there’s no more kaiju, right?”

“Newton.. I’m so sorry..” Hermann gripped his cane, watching Newt carefully and wishing he had figured this out sooner.

“Sorry, what are you so sorry for? It’s not like you have anything to do with this.” Newt turned around, knuckles white. “You’re needed here. Part of the team. The big shot. And I’m just.. here.”

“Newt..” Hermann closed the gap between them, reaching out to grasp Newt’s arm.

“I was supposed to be a rockstar, Hermann! People were supposed to ask me for autographs wherever I went, not... barely remember my name at all... I haven’t even learned everything about the kaiju yet! I still have so much I want to do..” He was crying now, sobbing even, clutching at Hermann’s lapels before burying his face in his chest. Hermann rubbed his back gently, letting him get it out as he made soft crooning noises. Soon, Newt quieted to hiccups, shivering in Hermann's arms. “Stay.. please.. I’m.. I’m tired of not seeing you enough.”

“I.. Newt, you know I can’t. This is the launch of three new jaegers. Mako needs me there in case something goes wrong.” Hermann’s throat felt tight as he said it, mind scrambling. He loved Newt, but he couldn’t just-

“Hermann.. Please.” Newt’s voice sounded strained and hoarse.

“I’ll be on the first flight back. Just a few days, and I’ll be right back. Then we can talk about making things more permanent. I promise.” Hermann felt like he was ripping his own heart out as he said it, he hated to leave Newt in such a state, but he couldn’t get out of his obligations either. Newt stilled in his arms.

“..Okay. Sure.” He sounded tired as he pushed away walking towards the door. They’d talk when he got back, Hermann told himself. Newt would be fine.

* * *

 

They didn’t talk about it when Hermann got back.

Newt was distant, the bags under his eyes deeper and Hermann realized he’d perhaps hurt his partner more than he’d thought. They could talk when Newt felt ready, he didn’t want to do any more damage. Newt still came to bed with him and that was enough.

At least that was what he told himself, but looking back, he should have fought instead. Fought for every second with Newt. Fought to make sure Newt just how much he... how much he loved him.

They had never said it. Never out loud. It was unspoken because it didn’t have to be said. They’d been in each other’s heads. They knew, they didn’t have to say. But maybe Herman should have, maybe he should have reminded Newt just how much he needed him too. But he hadn’t.

Their dinners and outings and time spent in bed together dwindled and the opportunity to to say it seemed to slip away. Newt spent more time locked in his lab or in his own room and that wasn’t Hermann's only concern. He’d noticed specks of blood, red blood, spattered on the collar of Newt’s shirt sometimes and Hermann had caught him swiping at his nose with a tissue on more than one occasion. It took stooping to rifling through the trash to determine with certainty that Newt was having nosebleeds again.

Newt’s emotional privacy was one thing, but his health was another and Hermann couldn’t stand by. Which is what had brought him knocking at Newt’s door. It took far longer than it usually did for the other man to answer. His face looked drawn and tired, not opening the door all the way but rather holding it as he leaned against the doorframe.

“...Hey.” His eyes were bloodshot and while eye contact had never been much of a thing for Newt to begin with, he wasn’t even looking at Hermann’s face. “What do you want, Hermann.”

“What? I don’t want anything, Newt. I’m concerned for your health! Look at you, you look like you could fall over at any moment!”

“Great. Thanks.”

“Not to mention the bloody handkerchief I found in your trash! Newton, if you’re unwell, you need to get help. Especially if it’s this sort of thing! You’re supposed to tell me about these things!”

“Wow, you’re going through my _trash_? Real classy, Hermann. Stalker much?” Newt grimaced. “Sorry I got your panties in a wad, but I’m fine. It’s cold out and I’m way more prone to nosebleeds now. It happens. Now do you mind? I’ve got an flight in the morning and I’d like to get some sleep.”

“Newt, if you need anything-”

“I don’t. Bye.” Newt sighed and shut the door before the other scientist could say anything else.

“Right.” Hermann stood for a moment, gripping his cane tightly before going on his way.

After that, Newt stopped answering the door entirely when he knocked. Talking became something that only occurred when necessary.

* * *

 

The next time they exchanged more than a handful for words, Newt was leaving.

“Are you moving to another lab?” Hermann stopped in the doorway to Newt’s lab, his heart in his stomach. He’d seen workers moving the many tanks and instruments from Newt’s lab elsewhere and rushed to see what was going on. He didn’t like what he saw.

“I guess you could say that.” Newt wasn’t even looking at him. He’d gotten more and more cold and closed off. Ragged. His usual charisma around the dome had become harsher and more biting. Right now, Hermann wished he could hug him, anything that might snap him out of it, but he wasn’t so sure he was allowed anymore. “I got an offer with the Shao Corporation. And I’m taking it.”

“You’re what?! Why?!” Newt was leaving the PPDC? But this was his home! Their home. Or it had been.

“Because at least _someone_ appreciates me, Hermann. I’m finally gonna get to be a rockstar, play around with the big boys. They’re even gonna let me continue my own work as long as I do what they need me for too. So I’m going. I deserve better than this.”

“Ah.... I see. Well... good luck then.” That was all really Hermann could say, hands shaking as he clutched his cane. Newt did deserve more, he deserved to be able to pursue his passion and he deserved to be recognized as the genius he was.

But mostly he didn’t say anything more because Newt was moving on without him and it hurt.


End file.
